Chilling 911 tapes of Sandy Hook school slayings released

'It sounds like there are gunshots in the hallway,' says teacher

5:23 AM,
Dec. 5, 2013

A bus drives past a sign reading 'Welcome to Sandy Hook' Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2013, in Newtown, Conn. The 911 calls from the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings released Wednesday show town dispatchers urged panicked callers to take cover, mobilized help and asked about the welfare of the children as the boom of gunfire could be heard at times in the background.

Written by

Gary Stoller and Gary Strauss
| USA Today

Emergency dispatchers at the Newtown Police Department warned a panicked teacher to protect herself and her students, urged another staffer to apply pressure to a gunshot wound to her leg and told the school custodian to take cover as the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre unfolded last December.

The advice came via 911 exchanges between school staffers and dispatchers minutes after gunman Adam Lanza began shooting inside the school. He would kill 20 students and six staffers with a semiautomatic assault rifle before taking his own life. Earlier that day, Lanza, 20, shot his mother, Nancy, at ...